Champagne for New Year's Eve? I'd rather drink Sparkling Beer Brut
If Will Hawkes was planning a party rather than an early night, he'd go for a few mini-casks from one of the British brewers
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Your support makes all the difference.Like once-a-year pub-goers and the overwhelming desire to be in bed by 9pm to avoid the madness, fizzy wine has become part of the New Year ritual. Over the next week, millions of pounds will be spent by party hosts keen to impress and delight their guests with (depending on the strength of that desire to impress) champagne or one of its cheaper rivals.
Without wishing to come over all money-saving expert, this strikes me as a little odd. There are growing (and justified) rumbles of discontent about the pricing of some beer, but there's a long way to go before it reaches the level of champagne, where, in my experience, you don't get much worth drinking below about £35 a bottle. Just think of all the lovely beer you could buy with that. Were I planning a party rather than an early night (excuse: two small children), I'd go for a few mini-casks from one of the British brewers smart enough to offer them: Fuller's, Adnams or Fyne, for example. For less than £20, you get nearly nine pints of a delicious, softly-carbonated beer like Fyne's Hurricane Jack.
There's no need to forgo fizz completely. There are plenty of beers which will do that job just as well, and for much less cash. If it's acidity and dryness you crave, seek out a gueuze from Cantillon, Tilquin or Drie Fonteinen. For something rather softer and richer, Savour's Sparkling Beer Brut is a good bet. It's even made using the méthode champenoise. Now there's something that will impress your guests.
Three to try
Fyne Hurricane Jack (4.5 per cent ABV, £19 for a 5-litre mini-cask, fyneales.com)
Few breweries make beer that goes down quite as easily as Fyne, and this is one of their best. Soft and bitter.
Fuller's ESB (5.5 per cent, £20 for a 5-litre mini-cask. fullers.co.uk)
This marmalade-and-toffee number from London's oldest brewery has spawned imitators in the US.
Savour Sparkling Beer Brut (10.5 per cent, £18 for 750ml, beerhawk.co.uk)
The bottle says wine but the flavour is all beer; burnt sugar, elderflower, spiciness and a clean finish.
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